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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: bat · straw · sharp · coach · band · track · field · ball

  1. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  2. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. Have you met the new head ________________?
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. The King held a masked ________________.
  12. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  13. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  23. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. field — a subject
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. field — for sport
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. bat — the animal
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. ball — a dance
  12. track — a path
  13. ball — a great time
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. band — a ring
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. sharp — clever
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. track — a song
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. band — a music group
  22. track — to keep track
  23. ball — a round shape
  24. field — farmland

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com